Storm Warning: Rewritten
by K Fire0210
Summary: As you can tell, this is a rewrite of my old story of the same name. I've never been all that happy with the old version and hopefully this one will be better. For one, this is set in an entirely new continuity that I have made from scratch with a new story and a plan for the future. Come on in and see the war that shook the universe from Stormchaser's perspective!
1. Chapter 1

The explosions were deafening and the constant gunfire ensured he'd be keeping his helm down. For now, at least. Who knows when Zeta Prime will order the next charge. Why was he hear again? Oh, yeah. He was a warframe. One naturally sparked, too, so there was little to no chance he could have gotten out of military service. If only first contact had gone better with those 'Quintessons'. He wouldn't be here if the leaders of both sides had been even a little more patient.

Cybertron had first met these strange, organic creatures about 6 vorns ago and had been fighting a gruesome war against them and their robotic soldiers ever since. The Quintessons had thought the Cybertronians to be simple machines for them to enslave. The Autobot High Council had responded by saying, using more formal wording, "Only WE are allowed to enslave other Cybertronians!" and promptly had Zeta Prime launch an attack into their space.

Stormchaser had been created by a sire and a carrier in Vos about 4 million standard galactic years before first contact and was...'lucky' enough to be both a flyer and a warframe. He'd been sent to the Autobot Academy and taught how to fight and lead others in combat. He graduated at the top of his class and been assigned to the Primal Vanguard, the personal unit of the Prime himself. The Vanguard was a small team made up of specialists who served directly under the current Prime and were always given the toughest assignments to complete. Thankfully, Zeta was a decent commander who actually knew how to lead without resorting to throwing away the sparks of good soldiers. He was still about as functionist as a bot could come but there wasn't really anything that could be done to change that.

Zeta's functionist ideals had almost caused him to reject the Service by Necessity Act. This act allowed the Council to conscript the lower and under class on Cybertron, the castes that contained the Slaves, miners, manual labourers and most criminals. One of these conscripts was sat next to him in the trenches on this random planet in the aft end of the universe. Megatronus was a miner who had to be upgraded into a warframe and was surprisingly good at ripping apart the robots the Quintessons used as soldiers. Of course, the Prime still treated him like he was less than the dirt they were fighting on, but Stormchaser had taken the time to get to know him. The large grey mech was surprisingly poetic and incredibly intelligent, self taught in everything.

"ALL AUTOBOTS, ON ME!" Came a yell from the Prime as he charged up and out of the trench, the rest of the Vanguard following behind with the remainder of the Army they were accompanying in this operation. Stormchaser charged over after a brief moment of psyching himself up and transformed into his heavy assault fighter mode, performing a strafing run over the enemy lines with the rest of the flyers before returning to the charge.

Several shots came close to bringing him offline but Stormchaser and the rest of the Vanguard made it across to the Quintesson trench and thoroughly curb-stomped the troops within. From there, the Autobot army continued the charge toward the capital of this Quintesson colony. It was quickly overrun as the Quintessons had, yet again, underestimated the strength of the Cybertronian force. The resistance was plentiful but pitiful with Stormchaser alone scoring at least 120 kills and he still didn't get nearly as many as Zeta Prime, claiming 290 lives, or Megatronus, who wiped out 570. As quick as the push had began, it ended. Only some small pockets of resistance remained in the area but they were being dealt with by the Autobot special forces unit known as the Wreckers.

Zeta stood up atop a wrecked Quintesson starship, his unit standing behind him, and began one of his speeches.

"The day is ours, my fellow Autobots! The menace that is the Quintesson Co-Prosperity Sphere will soon fall to Cybertron's overwhelming might! With the fall of this planet, we now have the chance to take the Quintesson homeworld and with it we stop them from bringing more pain and death to Cybertron and her colonies!"

Stormchaser had stopped listening after that, having heard similar speeches after every victory, but the other Autobots were eating it up. Megatronus seemed happy that the fighting would be over soon, at least. The heavy flyer scanned the crowd, seeing bots of all backgrounds working together towards a common cause and to be honest? It felt good to be part of that. If only Cybertron could be the same. Movement caught his optic, one of the Quintessons slave soldiers, barley clinging to life, was raising a blaster rifle towards Zeta Prime. Without even taking the time to think, Stormchaser dashed in front of Zeta Prime and felt as the plasma bolt hit him directly in the centre of his chassis. He was thrown back into the Prime from the force of the blast and could hear somebot let off a shot to finally end the slave soldier. The last thing he saw before his optics offlined and he entered stasis was the gaping hole in his chest where his Autobot insignia was supposed to be and Megatronus' shocked faceplate as he ran towards him.

* * *

The first thing Stormchaser noticed when his audio receptors came back online was the beeping of a spark monitor. He'd survived then, but he had no idea where he was or what had happened after he entered stasis. He could feel the rest of his subsystems reactivating, his optics last. His HUD gave him a simple reading of his systems but he may need to ask a medic to ensure everything is doing fine inside his frame.

_Energon Level: 98%  
T-Cog: Online  
Optics: Online  
Audio Receptors: Online  
Vocal Components: Online  
Lethal Weapon Systems: Online  
Stun Weapon Systems: Online  
Ammo Count: Empty  
_

He was lying on a medical berth in a room that looked more like a hospital than field clinic. Had he been sent back to Cybertron? The door opened and a red and white civilian mech with medical insignia covering his upper body and blue optics.

"Good, your awake. I wasn't sure you'd be up yet," Said the Medic "My name is Ratchet and I am the surgeon who operated on you after you took that nasty hit on McColamo."

"Well, thank you for keeping me online. I'd thought that was the end of me."

"By all rights, it should have been. A micrometer to the left and that shot would have ruptured your spark chamber, you are a very lucky mech."

The medic lifted a datapad off of the end of the end of the berth and read off some information. Seemingly satisfied with the it, he nodded his helm and let out a happy 'hmm'.

"Well, according to this you should be in good enough condition for your audience with Zeta Prime in the basilica."

Stormchaser looked confused before asking "Audience?"

Authors Note:

The rewrite has COMMENSED!

Cybertronian Terminology:  
Vorn-83 Earth years  
Standard Galactic Year-Approximately 2.56 Earth years  
Carrier-Mother  
Sire-Father  
Servo-Hand  
Optic-Eye  
Chassis-Torso  
Helm-Head  
Frame-Body  
Online-Alive  
Offline-Dead  
Berth-Bed


	2. Chapter 2

The Primal Basilica wasn't all that far from the clinic where he had been treated so Stormchaser had decided that he would take a leisurely stroll to there instead of rushing as he was probably expected to.

"And stay out, you under caste vagrant!" Came an angry shout as a small blue bot was thrown out from a store on the opposet side of the road. "Your lucky I don't report you to the Enforcers, you thieving filth!"  
The little bot quickly got back to his pedes before responding "It was ONE rust stick, ya stuck up fragger!" and speeding down the road, towards the factory district.

_Good to see Iacon hasn't changed since last time I was on Cybertron _thought Stormchaser.

Finding Zeta Prime in the Basilica was much quicker than arriving in the Basilica. The Prime was a large and imposing bot with a deep blue, almost purple and orange paint job. His optics were blue and his faceplate was covered by a permanent battle mask. He held an Energon spear in his servo and had an Autobot badge glowing proudly in the centre of his chassis. He was also waving Stormchaser over to him.

"It is good to see you well, sergeant. The Vanguard just hasn't been the same since you went into stasis." He greeted.  
"Its good to see you as well, sir." Stormchaser responded.  
"Now, please, there is no need for such formality. This is a private meeting between just the two of us. Shall we sit?" Zeta asked while raising his free servo to an already prepared table. The two bots took the free seats available and continued.

"I believe that you deserve a more fitting reward than just the pat on the backstrut the other Council members wanted to give you."  
"No reward is needed. I was only doing my job."  
"No, you were doing far more than just your job. You nearly offlined to save me. That deserves a much more fitting reward so," The Prime pulled a small storage box from his subspace "I want you to have this. You've earned it."

Stormchaser took the box and opened it, revealing an Autobot Medal for Bravery and Valor. It had a light blue Autobot badge in the centre of an image resembling the Matrix of Leadership. Having this medal made a bot one of the best the Autobots had. It represented an outstanding amount of dedication, skill and ability toward serving the Autobot High Council. It was the highest honor that an enlisted Autobot could earn and wasn't even available to conscripts.

But Stormchaser felt horrible for receiving one.

"Thank you for this, sir."  
"No thanks are needed, sergeant. You deserve that, and I'm sure you'll continue to deserve it in your service to the Council. A service which can not continue in the military, unfortunately." Zeta informed with a deep vent. He took up the Energon cube in front of him and took a long swig.  
"What do you mean? What happened to the army?" asked Stormchaser.

"Well, most of the troops who fought in the Quintesson war decided that they weren't being rewarded in a manner they thought they would be and left the Autobot army to do other things. Most returned to their own castes, though some turned to crime due to a lack of jobs available. The only units left you could do some real good in are the Wreckers and the Primal Vanguard but the surgeon who operated on you, Ratchet, has informed me that you are not in a condition to be serving in a military capacity for a few vorns at least."  
Stormchaser looked down at the scar left on his chassis from his surgery and inwardly winced. He was a warframe and the Army is all he had ever known. What was he supposed to do if he couldn't be a soldier?

"You look disheartened. What's wrong?" asked the Prime, reaching over and placing a servo on the flyer's shoulder.  
"Its nothing, sir. If I may ask, what happened to Megatronus?"  
The Prime leaned back with a confused look in his optics before responding. "Mega-who?"  
"Megatronus. The conscript I spent most of my free time with. He had red optics, a grey and black paint job with red highlights, he was a tall mech and spent most of his time reading or writing."  
Zeta Prime took a moment to think before snapping his digits "Ah, yes! The mining bot conscript from Tarn! That under caste malcontent was part of the group which left the service of the Council after believing they hadn't been properly rewarded. He probably turned to crime along with the other mining conscripts due to all the Energon mines in Cybertronian Space becoming entirely automated. You don't need to worry about him sullying your good image," The Prime said, seeming proud of the fact that he'd turned several million bots to crime with his stupid policy of automating everything to increase the high caste's riches "Though of course, there is the stigma now associated with warframes which might not be the absolute best thing for you."

Stormchaser looked up from his scar and asked what Zeta meant by the 'stigma' against warframes.  
"Well, after you were knocked into stasis we were able to route the Quintessons back to their homeworld of Quintessa. They had mustered everything they had left to defend the planet and a ground invasion would have cost us thousands of sparks. A warframe commander designated Iceman came up with the idea of simply bombing the Quintessons from orbit. We had complete air superiority so it would have been an easy task and the other commanders agreed to the idea. Unfortunately, they went a bit overboard and, quiet literally, bombed the Quintessons back to the stone age."

The flyer was not expecting that but he could not bring himself to say the Quintessons didn't deserve it. He had a storm of emotions flowing through his spark. Disgust, Anger and Fear but also, oddly enough, he felt Pride, Envy and even...Joy?

"Now normally this would mean that you would be hard pressed to find any work so I took it upon myself to ensure you would still have a credible occupation. I have given the order to promote you to Guard-Captain of the Vosian Guard. A high caste apartment is waiting for you in the Vosian towers and your new troops are waiting in the Vos Enforcers Station. Congratulations, Captain." Zeta said, finishing his Energon cube and leaving the table. He appeared to be going towards the Autobot council chamber in upper Iacon.

Stormchaser sat in stunned silence for a few nanocycles. He was leader of the Vosian Guard? He was in charge of protecting his home city? A look of grim determination settled on his faceplate. If he was going to be in charge of keeping Vos safe then, by Primus, he was going to keep Voss safe. He would fight every threat that came at it: Criminals, Corrupt Politicians and Enforcers, Alien Invaders and even the Prime and his Functionist Council if need be.

Author's Note:  
Cybertronian Terminology:  
Backstrut-Back  
Fragger-F*cker  
Enforcer/Guard-Police  
The Matrix of Leadership-The ancient artefact which choses who will be the next prime. It can only be truly used by a 'true' (descendent of the Thirteen) Prime.


	3. Chapter 3

Stormchaser hoped this Comm-Unit was still operational. It was likely the only way he could get in contact with his old war buddy. The unit made a distinctive beeping noise as is it was answered on the other end. A familiar deep voice spoke up, sounding slightly synthesised through the Comm-Unit. "This is Megatronus. Whom am I speaking with?" Stormchaser let out a small vent of relief before responding.  
"Megatronus, this is Stormchaser! Remember me? From the war?" Megatronus was silent for a short while before giving a hearty chuckle and almost, though not quite, yelled "Stormchaser! You're out of that hospital then? Have you heard about the war's conclusion yet?"  
"I have, from the Prime himself. We won but the public isn't so accepting of warframes anymore. Something to do with a warframe general going overboard when bombing the Quintessons and most of the troops who survived turning to crime to get by." A scoff could be heard from Megatronus.  
"What a load of scrap...This channel isn't secured, are you able to meet me in Tarn? I can explain what our _illustrious _leader left out of his explanation."

Stormchaser thought for a moment. He wasn't expected in Vos for another 8 solar cycles and Tarn was on the way there. It also gave him an excuse to go see a friend who probably is not doing too well at the moment. After a short while he responded in the affirmative. The two set a place to meet and a time to be there for. Stormchaser knew something was wrong with Zeta's recollection of events after he was put in stasis. It was obvious from his not taking responsibility or stopping the generals when he outranked them. He deactivated his Comm-Unit after giving his friend a good farewell and proceeded forward onto the platform of the train station he'd gone to. The next passenger train was due any moment now.

The train was long and an untold amount of bots exited the carts. Luckily, there were less bots entering the train than leaving it and Stormchaser was able to find a seat in a more secluded area. He looked down at his chassis and took note of the crimson and white paint job. The paint job required for all Primal Vanguard members. If his memory banks were functioning correctly, Tarn was not a place for an Autobot soldier. It would be easy to revert his paint back to their naturel color, and would help him move around without interference. With a single thought, the color on his body seemed to bleed away and was quickly replaced by black and dark purple with a few lines of silver thrown in for good measure. Satisfied with his look, he decided to have a small recharge to help move time forward. The train would arrive in Tarn in 2 solar cycles.

He reactivated some time later after the train had passed through a few more stations and the carts had been filled. He hadn't willingly reactivated but rather had been taken out of recharge by another Cybertronian. She was a femme flyer, as evidenced by the helicopter blades descending down her back in a style similar to a cape, and her paint job was a deep green with small red lines running along her joints and down the front of her chassis. She had yellow optics and, instead of an intake, she had a glass like lower face guard with a yellow line that moved as she spoke. He looked up at her and raised an optic band. She put her servos together. "I'm so, so sorry to wake you, but is that seat taken?" She said while pointing at the free space next to Stormchaser. He looked over at the seat then back at the femme and nodded his helm at her. "Oh, thank you." She said, sitting in place. The two were silent for awhile and Stormchaser was fine with that. He'd had a busy time recently. All of a sudden a servo entered his vision. The Femme had opened it for a shake and introduced herself "My designation's Air Drop. What's yours?" Stormchaser slowly raised his own servo to hers and gripped it before shaking.  
"Stormchaser." He introduced.  
"That's a nice designation," she complimented "Where you headed?"  
"Vos, but I'm stopping in Tarn to visit a friend from the War."  
"Oh, your a soldier?"  
"Not anymore. Honorably Discharged by the Prime himself after taking a hit for him in the field. I was just assigned command of the guard in Vos."  
"Well, its good to know that a big time hero will be protecting us in Vos," Stormchaser looked at her with a confused look "I'm heading to Vos too, ya see." The heavy flyer nodded.  
"So, you know what I'm doing with my life. How about you?" He asked with an inquisitive tone.  
"I'm an entertainer. A singer, actually. Emerged from the well, was constructed in Polyhex and sent to the Polyhex School of Entertainment," That made sense. Polyhex was widely seen as the recreational capital of the planet. "I'm moving to Vos to settle down. I've heard it's the go to for some peace and quiet." Stormchaser had a small laugh at that. Vos was peaceful so long as you stayed out of the way of the Seekers.

The flyers kept talking about until Tarn's mining district station came up and Stormchaser disembarked. The entire time all he could think was _Where have I seen her before?_

The station in Tarn was a mess. What was to be expected though? Tarn and Kaon received almost no support from the Council when it came to keeping the streets clean and safe. He was supposed to meet Megatronus outside of some bar called Maccadam's Old Oil House. Apparently, it was the best place to get cheap high grade Energon that actually tasted good in all of Tarn. It also happened to be easy to find and was almost always full of noise. This meant that the Council couldn't risk starting a fight through their Enforcers and there was little chance of anyone overhearing them. It was like something out of one of those espionage vids you'd see in the holo-theatres in Iacon and Polyhex.

Sure enough, Megatronus was already sat at a table with two cubes of high grade Energon. Stormchaser went over and sat at the table. The two shook servos and exchanged greetings before having a casual chat of no real consequence. It wasn't long before the topic changed to the not really full explanation given by Zeta Prime. "So, he told you that it was the warframe commanders that 'went overboard'?" Megatronus asked while finishing his cube. Stormchaser nodded. "He couldn't be have been giving you more scrap. Iceman did come up with the idea for the bombardment but Zeta ordered the usage of ship-mounted heavy warp cannons. Zeta was the one who went 'Overboard' and even then, he knew _exactly_ what he was doing!"  
"But what about the mass defections? All those bots leaving the army?" Questioned Stormchaser.  
"He was being entirely truthful when he told you about that. We were not being rewarded as promised. The Council told us that we would be raised from the poverty and misery, that we would be hailed as heroes and the saviors of Cybertron. They lied. Instead, they pinned the mess that Zeta made of those disgusting organics on us and then told us to either return to our previous work, which many could not, or allow them to install _slave coding _and _control chips_ into us! Everybot that stayed, the Vanguard, the Wreckers, and so many others all were forced to bend to the Council in a way that made rebellion impossible."  
Stormchaser sat back in his seat. Had he really come so close to losing his freewill?  
"I'm sorry to shatter your view of the Council, Stormchaser, but it had to be done. They would just use you as a willing puppet otherwise." Stormchaser shook his helm and as a look of rage descended on his faceplate. "No. No, you didn't shatter my view of the Council. You've strengthened it."

Megatronus looked at him sympathetically. "You are obviously tense. You should come to my fight later this solar cycle. It will help you relax."  
"Your fight?"  
"Indeed. I could not return to my job in the mine as I and so many others have been replaced by drones, and no bots are willing to hire warframes, even bots who were only upgraded into a warframe, because of the Council's smear campaign against us. I was not willing to turn to theft or any other dishonorable profession so I signed up to the underground gladiator arena here in Tarn. My first fight is tonight against another bot who wishes to join the arena. The winner is added to the roster of fighters." The flyer seemed to think for a moment. He had been assigned to the Guard which meant protecting the law, and gladiatorial combat was illegal. However, he technically wasn't part of the guard yet, not for another 6 solar cycles, and he would technically be rebelling against the Council and its terrible decision making. He smiled.

"I'll be there."

Author's Note:  
Cybertronian Terminology:  
Solar Cycle-1 Cybertronian Day/approximately 38 Earth Hours  
High Grade Energon-Cybertronian Alcohol  
Scrap-Sh*t  
Comm-Unit-Phone/Radio  
Seekers-Elite flyers who are sparked in groups of three from the Well. They are the perfect balance of scientist and soldier. They also tend to be glass cannons and are the leaders of Vos and the more experienced are usually assigned command of scout fleets, sent to find new worlds to colonise and resources to support Cybertron. They also have a lot of attitude and despise being told what to do by one they consider 'inferior' to themselves.


	4. Chapter 4

p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Stormchaser had been expecting a ring of bots around the two combatants. He'd been expecting a decent crowd. What he hadn't been expecting was a fully fledged arena made from an old shipping and receiving dock or the crowd to be made up of a couple hundred bots. The cheering was almost deafening and it was surprising that no local enforcers had heard the commotion being raised. It was then that Stormchaser noticed a group of three bots with Autobot insignia on them, cheering with the other bots and clearly overcharged. emOf course /emhe thought. br /A civilian bot with a sky blue and yellow paint job walked out into the middle of the pit with a microphone in one servo. He had treads on the back of his Tibulan and wheels on his shoulders. A red visor covered his optics. "Femmes and Gentlemechs! My designation is Broadcast and this...is the Arena of Tarn!" He announced, spinning in place and drinking in the applause with a smile on his face plate. "Today, we have two hopeful warriors who want a place in this fighting circuit! In this corner we have a labourer from lower Iacon who was recently put out of a job by the Council's automating policy designated Glassbreak!" As the name was said a large white bot with green and red highlights stomped into the arena. He raised his servos above his helm and roared with the crowd. "And in this corner we have a Tarn native, a former miner and a veteran of the Quintesson War, Megatronus!" The same as before, in walked Megatronus with a confident smirk on his face plate. The crowd was going ballistic and Stormchaser got caught in the atmosphere and began to whoop and holler with the rest of the bots watching./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Broadcast placed a servo on the shoulders of both fighters and continued his speech. "Now, this is NOT a fight to the death. If your oppenent starts begging then you had best stop beating their face plate in, but if they don't ask for mercy and you do offline them then, eh, fair is fair. No guns and no blades, back to your corners."/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The two gladiators went to opposite ends of the pit and glared at one another. The announcer looked between them, raised an arm and, as he lowered it, yelled "Fight!"/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The two charged each other with fists raised. When they met Glassbreak made a wide swing that Megatronus easily dodged. Glassbreak had meant that as a distraction, though, and his other fist connected with Megatronus' helm with enough force to send the warframe flying into the wall behind him. He steadily got back up to his pedes just in time to meet another strike from Glassbreak. Megatronus was sent to his knees and Energon began to leak from his intake. By this point, Stormchaser was worried Megatronus had bitten off more than he could take but he knew he couldn't get involved so he decided to settle for panicked pede tapping. Glassbreak laughed and raised his arm to bring down a finishing blow./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Silence echoed over the arena before wild cheering erupted, the loudest coming from Stormchaser. Megatronus had caught the hit. Glassbreak had a look of shock on his face plate, though not for long as Megatronus delivered a rising uppercut to the larger mech. Glassbreak was pushed back by the force of the fist and had to shake his helm to get reoriented. He let out a shout of anger and shot one fist out toward Megatonus. Again, the hit was caught but this time Megatronus applied more pressure to the fist and broke it before twisting the arm, turning and pulling the bot over his shoulder as the arm was ripped from its place on Glassbreak's chassis. Megatronus threw the arm to the side and slowly stalked toward the fallen bot. A swift kick put Glassbreak on his backstrut and a vicious stomp onto his chest pinned him in place. Megatronus spoke loud enough he could be heard over the crowd. "Yield!" He almost growled. The bot on the ground whimpered something in response, too quiet for anybot to hear despite the almost complete lack of sound that came after Megatronus' demand. The still standing fighter ground his pede deeper into his opponent's chest, causing a scream of pain. "For all those present to hear!"br /"I CONCEDE! I CONCEDE!" Glassbreak shrieked, the pain from his beating echoing in his /The victor removed his pede and raised a single fist into the air. The cheering began again as Broadcast ran back out into the arena, placed a servo on Megatronus' shoulder and yelled "I give you Tarn's newest gladiator: Megatronus!"/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"_br /_/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;""I honestly thought you were going to get your aft beaten after that first hit." Exclaimed Stormchaser upon seeing Megatronus after the match. The two were in the tunnels under the arena. Megatronus laughed and gripped Stormchaser's open servo. "So did I, well, until I remembered how we used to bring down the bigger Quintesson warbots. Wait, find an opening and strike without giving them room to escape." The two were interrupted by a bot shouting after the gladiator. "Megatronus! Megatronus, can I speak with you?" Shouted Broadcast, running up to the two bots. "I just have to say, you were absolutely amazing out there!" He began before noticing the Purple and Black flyer "Sorry, whose this?"br /"This is Stormchaser, an old friend from the war." Megatronus introduced. The bot in question gave a two digit /"Ah, hi! Anyway, Megatronus, as I said you performed outstandingly in there. I'd like to be your contractor, if you'll have me."br /"Contractor?"br /"Think of it like a manager. I'd make sure you have a real chance of winning a fight, that you get paid the agreed amount and that you recieve any medical attention you might need."br /Megatronus looked over to Storchaser who mearly shrugged, not at all familiar with how illegal gladiator fights work. Megatronus tuned his gaze back to Broadcast. "These 'contractors'. Are they a requirement for all gladiators?" he asked. Broadcast shook his /"No, but they do make things much easier for you and allows you more free time. You really wouldn't believe just how many gladiators spend entire solar cycles trying to find a half-decent doctor. If you feel like it, we can talk more in my...well, office is far too strong a word for it but it gets the job done." Megatronus looked back at Stormchaser /"Do you mind if I..." He said, gesturing at /"Oh, yeah. I got to get to the train station if I want to be in Vos by next solar cycle. I'll see you later on, yeah?"br /"Of course, my friend."/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"_br /_/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Stormchaser had just stepped onto the train platform when he heard the gunfire in the distance. He wouldn't have connected it to the Enforcer raid on a Tarn gladiatorial arena until he saw it on the news on the train. "The recent raid on an underground fighting pit by the Enforcers in Tarn has resulted in every bloodthirsty criminal on the record these horrible bots kept on each other being either offlined or arrested..." reported the newsbot. Stormchaser laid back in his chair. His thoughts were going haywire. emWell scrap. He's either dead or in council custody./em/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The rest of the trip went by in a flash as the flyer fell into deep thought. After arriving in Vos, he immediantly went to the apartment he was promised. It was large, more of a penthouse than an apartment. Numerous different rooms, some with a purpose he couldn't even begin to understand, were scattered all around the place. He could see the Guard headquarters on a tower in the distance. emSpeaking of/em he thought. His paint job once again changed, this time it returned to the colors of the Primal Vanguard with the Autobot insignia returning to its place on his chest and wings. He let out a heavy vent and gazed out at the city he would be officially in charge of protecting next solar cycle. A crackle of electricity danced around his claws./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Author's Note:br /Cybertronian Terminology:br /Overcharged-Drunkbr /Tibulan-Shin/p 


	5. Chapter 5

p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"200,000 Earth Years Later:/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The warehouse they had met in was on the very far outskirts of Vos. The buyer had specifically requested they come here. "The Guard won't ever think to look here." He said, "We'll be perfectly safe so long as you follow my every instruction." He'd said. Well, he didn't feel all that safe. The warehouse was in a dark and abandoned part of the undercaste section of the city. Most of the inhabitants were grounders who held a grudge for when the Princes of Vos kicked them out of the towers, and they'd be fine to let out some anger on the group of blackmarket flyers waiting for that insufferable Seeker to show up./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The helms of the two bots in the building snapped to the entrance as the hum of a blaster sounded in the room. The bot that just entered, a red, blue and white Seeker, raised his servos defensively and shouted in a nasally, whiny voice "Don't point that weapon at me, you Idiots!"br /The blaster hum died down as it was sheathed back into the arm of his partner. "Its about time you got here, Starscream. Your 12 breems late," He said, stepping toward the Seeker "You got our payment?"br /"Of course I do, you simpleton. Why would I come to purchase something from you if I didn't have the agreed amount. Do emyou /emhave what I want?" Questioned Starscream as he looked around the area in a way that made him look incredibly bored and possibly wondering why he didn't just send one of his underlings to fetch the package. The apparent leader of the pair meeting with Starscream pointed to a sizable storage unit. It was rather unremarkable and unassuming in appearance. The second partner opened the box and a red glow covered the otherwise dark room. The Seeker chuckled darkly and passed a datapad to the bot who had been speaking to him. "Your payment is on there, Astrotrain, all 2 million shanix of it."br /"A pleasure doing business, Star-"/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Astrotrain was interrupted by an explosion opening up the entrance of the warehouse along with several bots crashing through the skylight on the roof of the /_br /_/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"The operation was a resounding success. The Vosian Guard had managed to not only arrest two of Vos' biggest blackmarket bots and secure 400 litres of refined, liquid, Red Energon but also brought down Starscream, a corrupt Prince who had lied, backstabbed and assassinated his way to the top of the political system in Vos. Honestly, Stormchaser had no idea how anybot had let him reach the top. Sure, Starscream was a decent Air Commander and scientist but he was in no way cut out for a role that gave him the responsibility the Princes had. Ever since he was elected the position he'd been trying to secure his position as the leading power on the Princes' Assembly. Recent intel had suggested that Starscream was going to have his two lackeys, Skywarp and Thundercracker, murder Starscream's main rival in the Assembly. This would be difficult due to the massive amount of bodyguards and security the bot in question had taken on when this information was revealed to them, hence the Red Energon. Swindle had definitely earned his parole with this. There was no way the Guard could have caught Starscream in time without the information the con artist offered in return for being allowed to walk./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;""Captain, all suspects are in custody and the Red Energon has been contained." Said an oak brown and white grounder with two tank barrels extending from his back, towards the floor and blue optics. His Autobot insignia could be seen on the side of his shoulders. This was Panzer, Stormchaser's second in command. He was a warframe tank, too young to have served in the Quintesson war, who had reached the rank of lieutenant in the Guard despite the massive amounts of flyer favouritism when it came to positions of authority in Vos. Stormchaser smiled and responded. "Good, get the everyone back to HQ and then prosses the prisoners. I'll get in contact with Prince Slipstream and let her know the danger has passed." Panzer saluted got on with his assigned duty. Stormchaser activated his Comm-Link and entered Slipstream's personal frequency. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too busy at the moment. Almost instantly, he heard her voice. "Captain? Please tell me you have good news. I could really do with some."br /She sounded stressed. "Yes I do. Starscream has been brought into custody and is being taken to a holding cell in the Guard HQ as we speak. A trial date will be chosen soon."br /"Oh, thank Primus. Thank you, Captain, I couldn't be more grateful for this. If you ever need anything then please, call me. I'll do what I can to help."br /"That's very kind, Prince Slipstream, I'll keep it in mind." Said Stormchaser as the call ended./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Panzer shouted from across the courtyard outside the warehouse. "Sir, we're ready to depart!"br /"Then lets be on our way!"br /_br /_/p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Starscream's trial arrived a lot sooner than originally anticipated but Stormchaser would be damned if he didn't find it enjoyable to dump every last shred of evidence he'd collected on the Seeker. On top of conspiracy to commit murder and attempt to purchase an illegal substance, they also had evidence for abandonment of a comrade, a Seeker exclusive law that stated if any Seeker abandoned another while on mission then they would be found guilty of treason. Starscream had abandoned his partner, Jetfire, on some backwater in another Galaxy all together. Another pair of Seekers, Air Raid and Silverbolt, had recovered Jetfire and returned him to Cybertron where he is currently undergoing treatment for Energon deficiency and multiple wounds inflicted when on the planet. Starscream was found guilty, obviously, and sentenced to spend the rest of his functioning on Trypticon Station, an orbital Energon refinery./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Stormchaser had decided to celebrate the victory by going for a drink at a local bar that he and his detective team frequented in their off time. He'd been making his way there when he just happened to look down one of the alleys on the route there. An Autobot enforcer, part of Vos' grounder division, was beating something. Curiosity peaked, Stormchaser went down the alley to investigate. As he got closer he could here two higher pitched voices begging the officer to stop and screaming in pain. They sounded like Sparklings. Stormchaser announced himself to the officer. "Hey! What are you doing?"br /The bot turned to look at him and gave Stormchaser a good look at the victims of his brutality. Two sparklings, a red femme and a blue mech, were curled on the floor, covered in dents and scratches. The officer took notice of who he was talking to and his face plate changed form a look of anger at being interrupted to one of submission as he recognised his captain. "Sir! I-uh...I was giving two little pieces of scrap what they deserve."br /"Oh? And what did these two defenceless sparklings do to deserve such a punishment?"br /"They exist, Captain. They're triple changers, they have two alt-modes! That means they have no purpose and are a burden on Cybertronian society!" The officer explained, looking back at the two cowering sparklings and raising a servo as if to hit them again. Stormchaser reached out and grabbed the officer's wrist to stop him. "I don't think that's really necessary, Officer. Stop." He said with danger in his voice. The officer looked at him like he was insane. "Stop? Sir, are you saying that these freaks don't deserve everything we give 'em?"br /"That's exactly what I'm saying."br /"Then I'm afraid I have to disobey that order." The bot spoke, trying to get free of Stormchaser's constrictive /"Then I'm afraid your fired." Responded Stormchaser before sending a large current of electricity shooting into the bot he held from his servo. The enforcer shouted in pain before his chassis became stunned and he collapsed to the floor. Stormchaser got on one knee and reached an open servo towards the sparklings. The two leaned away. "Hey, hey. Its okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Can you tell me your designations?" The older bot asked as softly as he could. The red femme approached first, keeping the smaller blue mech behind /"I-I'm Sh-Sh-Shatter and th-this is m-my t-twin, D-Dropkick." She whimpered out as she shook in fear. Stormchaser paused. Split-spark twins who are also both triple changers. That has too be as rare if not more rare than the point one percenters. "Alright, its nice to meet you. I'm Stormchaser. Are you hurt?"br /"A l-little." She /"Its not safe you here. Where are your creators?" he /"T-they're b-b-both off-off-offline. T-the mean bots c-came a-and..."br /Stormchaser placed a digit on her intake. He didn't want her to think back to that. "Come with me. I'll get you somewhere safe. Are you upgraded enough to transform?"br /"Y-yeah. We b-both a-are."br /"Come on then, follow me. Lets get you some Energon." Stormchaser said, leading the two out of the dark of the alley and jetting off towards his place./p  
p style="color: #000000; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"Author's Note:br /Yes, Shatter and Dropkick are twins in this story. I just couldn't find an angle good enough to have them be anything /Special thanks to those people who have favourited and followed, with an especially special thanks to VakamaPrime for my first review! I'm so glad your enjoying the story!br /Cybertronian Terminology:br /Breem-8.3 Earth Minutesbr /Vosian Prince-A position one is elected to in Vos. They are usually Seekers and govern a part of Vos' /Sparkiling-Child (typically used for baby to pre-teen ages) /p 


	6. Chapter 6

The two Sparklings had settled in nice enough. After proving that the apartment was a safe place, Stormchaser had given the two some flavoured medi-grade Energon to help with their wounds and fill their empty fuel tanks. The two were happily chatting in some language they'd made up and Stormchaser was keeping an optic on them as they did. The tell-tale _beep beep_ of his Comm-Unit sounded and he vented as he pushed off the counter and answered. "You've got Stormchaser."  
"Captain, this is Panzer." Came the familiar deep growl of the tank. "Detectives Firewall and Flightpattern have brought Skywarp and Thundercracker into custody."  
"Good, they've been on the run way too long." Stormchaser replied as some of his recent stress melted away. Those two Seekers had been avoiding capture ever since their boss had been arrested and had caused many a processor ache to the Guard-Captain.  
"Oh, and there's this femme here. She wants to report a crime but says she'll only speak to you."  
"There's no one she can speak in the HQ?"  
"Of course, sir, but she insists on talking with you."  
Stormchaser raised a servo to his faceplate, already feeling another processor ache coming on. "Alright. I'm dealing with some private stuff right now so send her to my apartment and I'll talk to her here."  
"Yes, sir."

_

The two Sparklings had finished the Energon offered to them and were busy playing in the main room when the doorbell sounded. The Flyer opened it to reveal a green femme with red highlights and helicopter blades running down her back. Her yellow optics seemed to light up a small amount and the line on her lower face guard moved as she spoke. "Hi!"  
"Hi," said Stormchaser "We've met before, right? On the train?"  
"Yeah, you said you were the new Captain in Vos so I thought you would be the best bot to talk to about this, so...?"  
Stormchaser moved to the side to allow her inside. She gasped as she entered "Woah, this place is _huge!"_  
_"_Yeah, benefits of being in a command position, I guess," He said as he led the guest inside "What's the problem, then?"  
"Well, recently I've been getting some messages that aren't all that...nice, I suppose. I thi-" She stopped part way through her talk as she noticed Shatter and Dropkick. What sounded like a squee came out from her vocaliser. "By Primus, who are those little darlings!" She asked, bouncing slightly in place. "Those are Shatter and Dropkick, Splitspark…triple changers." He answered. Her helm snapped towards him, optics wide. "T-triple Changers?"  
Stormchaser visibly tensed_. Please, please do not be a functionist, I can not deal with another one today _he thought. She noticed him standing straighter and waved her servos in an effort to keep things calm. "Hey, wait, I'm not with the Council. I think everybot should be equal." The mech relaxed again and led her over to a chair. The Sparklings hadn't even noticed the new arrival yet.

"Good, I didn't want to send you away." He admitted in both slight embarrassment and professionalism. She was reporting a crime after all.  
"I'm assuming their not yours, right?" She asked. He nodded in response. "So where did they come from?"  
He told her of the events that had taken place a few short cycles before and she gained a look of confusion.  
"Wait, you shocked the guy out?"  
"Yep."  
"But, you said you didn't have a stun weapon on servo."  
"Correct."  
"Then how?"  
Stormchaser looked around in mock suspicion before looking back to Air Drop. "You want to hear a state secret?" She nodded. "Every member of the Primal Vanguard is point one percenter. Of course, there are not nearly enough of us to fill a unit every time one ends up offlining in the line of duty so when a bot who isn't a point one percenter, like me, is recruited, they undergo a highly dangerous open spark surgery to force a subject's spark to...evolve or mutate into a point one percenter spark and give the bot who had the surgery an ability to go with it. I survived my surgery and now I'm a walking electricity conductor. My claws," He explained as he raised his servo "Can create and control electricity and the voltage that it has. They can stun, kill and form a one directional shield that lasts as long as I can concentrate on it." As he said it he raised one servo and sparked his claws along his palm, showing the volts dancing between his claws before a wall of blue electricity seemed to fall out of the servo and between them before dissipating again. The femme was sat back in her seat with a look of wonder in her optics.

"So what was the crime you wanted to report?" Stormchaser asked, breaking her out of her stupor.  
"Right, yeah, that. Well, as I was saying, I think somebot is stalking me," She looked around before leaning a little closer "With intent to cause harm." She whispered. Stormchaser instinctively looked out the large floor to ceiling window in the room, seeing only the regular flyer traffic going by and nothing all that suspicious. "That is a damning accusation but I'm inclined to believe you. You wouldn't come directly to me if you weren't absolutely certain."  
"Between you and me, I think they work for the Council. I don't have many enemies and they did revoke my licence to entertain when I made a song that advocated the integration of the Eukarians and the Triple Changers. They said it was 'anti-autobot' and 'encouraged criminal activity' but I know they made that up."

The two continued to talk about the case for a short while before Stormchaser asked if Air Drop could look after the twins while he returned to the Guard HQ to open an investigation. She agreed, almost being able to ide her excitement at looking after a pair of younglings, and Stormchaser showed her where everything was and instructed her on how to lock the door and close the blinds in case she felt unsafe for any reason. He also knew he was likely to be gone for a while and showed her the berth room he'd gotton ready for the Sparklings and one that Air Drop herself could use. With that, he took off.

Author's Note:  
Sorry this chapter is later then what it should have been. I was really busy with college in the week (Philosophy class is a bit of a hassle) and my Grandfather had a surgery to remove an aneurism on Friday so my weekend was spent visiting him in hospital while he recovered.

Cybertronian Terminology:  
Point One Percenter-A Cybertronian whose Spark is a rare type that grants its frame abilities that other Cybetronians can not use. Notable point one percenters include Soundwave (telepathy) and Elita-1 (Can copy the powers of other point one percenters for a short time).  
Medi-Grade Energon-A type of Energon used by medics which increases the nanobot count in a Cybertronian. It helps to heal wounds and fight off viruses. Apparently, it tastes horrible when not flavoured in anyway.


End file.
